Prof. Lyambabaje was appointed by the cabinet meeting held yesterday on 2nd February 2021. The appointment comes four months after the tenure of former Vice Chancellor, Phillip Cotton ended in October last year. He was temporarily replaced by Dr Musafiri Papias Malimba, the former Minister of Education.

Cotton had served as UR’s Vice-Chancellor since 2015.

Prof Lyambabaje was born in 1960. He studied at the National University of Rwanda from where he went to pursue Master’s Degree in Canada.

Lyambabaje holds a Bachelors of Science Degree in Mathematics and a Doctorate in Mathematics from University de Rennes in France.

He has served in different capacities in Rwanda’s public sector. Among these, in 1999, he was appointed Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education.
In 2000 he was appointed Minister of Commerce, Tourism Industry, Investments Promotion and Cooperatives, a position he held until 2003.

He supervised the formulation of policies for the ministry and in particular Rwanda Tourism Policy.

He also contributed to the regional integration process through active participation in regional ministerial meetings, including those of the East African Community and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).

From April 2014 to 2015, he served as a senior researcher at the University of Rwanda in the College of Medicine and Health Sciences.

He also served as an Associate Professor of Statistics in the Institute of Applied Sciences Ruhengeri.

Prof Lyambabaje has been recently serving as the Executive Secretary of the Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA).